by Rose Rushe
FORGING into an 18 night tour with an opening week of six performances in six venues would daunt some. Not Joanne Ryan, central to virtually every scene as Bridgie in Tom McIntyre’s raw, dreamy, ‘What Happened Bridgie Cleary’, produced by Bottom Dog Theatre Company.
Staged first in the vault of Victoria Snooker Club, judges for the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2014 were so taken as to shortlist Ryan for Best Actress category. She was one of four nominees only from 240 shows vetted.
This beautifully made piece of theatre returns to Limerick this week to 69 O’Connell Street for two nights only, Wednesday September 24, Friday 25 at 8pm.
Joanne Ryan is woman with presence and a past – a teacher who worked in Bangkok as journalist. On stage, she’s a big communicator even whilst silent or spoken about, the physicality of green eyes and alabaster skin enhancing power as the woman/ changeling that Bridgie was alleged to be.
“This is a unique part,” she feels of Cleary, burned to death by a tormented husband. Family had looked on, or as good as, backs turned to her pyre.
“There are lots of aspects to it and one is that the role is inspired by a real person. Her life was well documented because of the circumstances of her death”. She has done a full exploration of the era, the community that was horrified by Cleary’s burning, their “very strong belief in faery craft”.
“McIntyre fictionalises the past,” Ryan makes clear, “he is a theatre poet and not a historian”.
In this “unusual mesh of fact and fiction”, director John Murphy works fine performances out of Ryan and Myles Breen as spouse. McGrath is either a figment of desire or plain egg-man to the poultry keeper and seamstress that Mrs Cleary was, a singular woman whose crime seems to be not more than a man who could not contain her.
Book for 8pm seats Wednesday 24, Thursday 25 at www.limetreetheatre.ie for 69 O’Connell Street, the former Belltable.
